Heater.



1. w. F. MACDONALD.

HEATER.

APPLICATION HLED SEPT.24. 1918.

mmmsm Patented Apr. 29, 1919.

E we 227/40 W i m-Lu WQFMM UNTT STATES PATENT QFFJIQEO JOHN W. F. MCDONALD, OF BRIGHTON, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO THE MERRILL PROCESS COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF MASSACHUSETTS.

HEATER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 29, 19119.

To all whom c't may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN W. F. MACDON- ALD, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Brighton, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented ][mprovements in Heaters, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawmgs, forming part thereof.

This invention has reference to improvements in heaters having a large number of substantially parallel tubes through which a hydro-carbon or other suitable liquid is circulated whereby said liquid may absorb heat supplied to such tubes.

One object of the invention is to maintain the alinement of such tubes and to protect the joints of the members connecting said tubes from the more direct heat. 4

Another object of the invention is to protect any circulating liquid, that may leak from the tube connections, from the direct heat of the heatingflame and also to recover said liquid.

' Other objects of the invention will appear from the following description.

The invention consists in providing the series of parallel tubes, connected together in pairs by heads with combined bafie plates which prevent the spreading of the tubes and protect the joints of the tubes and headers from the attack of the more direct or intense heat.

The invention also consists in the means for protecting and reclaiming any circulating fluid that may leak from said joints.

The invention also consists in such other novel features of construction and combination of parts as shall hereinafter be more fully described and pointed out in the claims.

Figure 1, represents a sectional view of parts of the improved heater.

Fig. 2, represents an end view of parts of the same.

Fig. 3, represents an enlarged sectional view of parts shown in Fig. 1.

Similar characters of reference designate corresponding parts throughout.

In the drawings 5 indicates the fire box of a furnace or heater in which heat is adapted to be generated by means of a hydrocarbon flame or by the combustion of any and the tube receiving other suitable fuel. The end walls 6, 6 of said fire box 5 extend above the steps 7, 7 and protect the girders 8, 8 which have the supporting members 9, 9 and the troughs 10, 10. On said members 9, 9 are supported the bafie or protector plates 11, 11 having series of perforations or openings 12, 12 arranged in rows and suitably spaced apart.

Extending through the openings 12, 12 of said plates 11, 11 are-the circulating tubes 13, 13 which are supported and spaced apart by the walls of said openings. The ends of each pair of said tubes 13, 13 are connected by the box like headers 14, 14 adapted to be seated closely together and having rear walls furnished with pairs of tube receiving openings in which openings said tubes 13, 13 are secured usually by expanding the ends of said tubes in said openings. The front or exterior portions have pairs of openings closed by the screw plugs 15, 15 by the removal of which access may be had to the ends of tubes 13, 13 for the purpose of tightening the joints between said tubes 13, 13 openings of said headers 14, 14 or for the purpose of removing said tubes.

It is to be noticed that the baffle or protecting plates 11, 11 are spaced from the headers 14, 14 and provide walls which protect the joints between the tubes 13, 13 from the more intense heat and particularly from the flame of the fuel under combustion in the fire box 5. One reason for this construction is that the circulating system which comprises the tubes 13, 13 connected by their headers 14, 14 is, in some cases, utilized to circulate a hydro-carbon liquid in proximity to the fire box 5 whereby said liquid may absorb heat from the fuel consumed in said fire box and transport such heat to a point of use located outside the heater. It sometimes happens that the joints between the tubes 13, 13 and their headers 14, 14 permit the leakage of said hydro-carbon liquid whereby some of said leakage might accumulate on the lower portions of the tubes 13, 13 and ultimately become ignited. In this im roved construction however such leakage 1s intercepted by the plates 11, 11, against the lower walls of the openings 12, 12 of which tubes 13, 13 rest, whereby said leakage instead of running toward the mid-length of saidtubes 13, 13 is diverted and guided downward by said baflie plates 11, 11, until said leakage reaches the supporting members 9, 9 of girders 8, 8 and is directed by the bevel shoulders of said members 9, 9 into the troughs 10 in which it may flow to a suitable point of delivery.

In the repair or removal and replacement of any particular tubes 13, 13 the remainder of the tubes being tied or held together by the plates 11, 11 are thereby protected against spreading or distortion under the strains sometimes necessarily exerted in such operations. The fact that the tubes 13-, 13 are supported by the plates or members 11, 11 while the latter are in turn supported by the members 9, 9 of girder 8 is important as by such construction the headers 14, 14 may be wholly supported by the tubes 13, 13 to which said headersare respectively attached. The walls of adjacent headers 14, 14 while being in close proximity need not necessarily' be in actual contact whereby any particular header 14 can be removed and replaced Without affecting any adjacent header.

Having thus described my invention 1 claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent.

1. A heater comprising a fire box, a series of substantially horizontal tubes extending above said fire box, a series of return headers connecting end portions of said tubes in pairs, and bafiie members spaced inwardly from the inner portions of said headers, said bafiies contacting with the lower walls of said tubes to divert liquid from said walls and a receptacle for said liquid.

2. A heater comprising a fire box, drip receptacles at the sides of said fire box, a series of substantially parallel horizontal tubes mounted above said fire box and connected in pairs by headers, and means to intercept liquid accumulating on said tubes adjacent said headers and for directing said liquid toward said drip receptacles.

3. A heater comprising a fire box, girders located at the sides of said fire box and having drip receptacles, vertical plates sustained on said girders and having openings, tubes extending transversely through said openings, and return headers each secured to the ends of a pair of said tubes and spaced from said lates.

OHN W. F. MACDONALD. 

